Team:BroadRun-NorthernVA/Description

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Project Description

In late May, Armstrong, a global construction manufacturer, agreed to be our corporate sponsor. They presented us with their industrial waste water purification system issue. A buildup of starch in their water system used to produce construction material provides lovely breeding grounds for all sorts of unwanted microbes. Currently, Armstrong relies biocides, expensive and harmful to the environment, to stop the microbial growth. Some of these microbes are producing butyric acid, the smelliest of all acids, causing Armstrong’s products to smell bad too. Not to fear Armstrong, synthetic biology to the rescue!

After coming up with a plethora of various solutions, we decided on engineering a yeast cell to produce and secrete amylase. This option was the most efficient, cost effective, sustainable, and environmentally conscientious. The water system often fluctuates between varying levels of oxygen, from aerobic to anaerobic, therefore Saccharomyces cerevisiae was the best candidate, as it would thrive both conditions. An organism found in abundance in nature, S.cerevisiae would be both cost effective and less of a calamity if it were to escape into the environment.

Amylase is a commonly known enzyme, found in everything from human saliva to laundry detergents. It is effective at breaking down and degrading a variety of starches quickly and efficiently. Alpha amylase, the most commonly found type, is the most effective and because it can act anywhere on the starch molecule.